RAMAPHOSA V. DLAMINI-ZUMA: THE LOSER - SOUTH AFRICA

Cyril  Ramaphosa has tossed his hat into ring, and joins Dlamini- , the other leading candidate in a contest to replace Jacob Zuma as leader of the ANC. 

 Ramaphosa is a consummate politician - affable, intelligent, politically savvy and disarming.  When comparing him to his ANC elites Ramaphosa wins hands down. This, however, does not necessarily mean South Africa can correct its course under Rhamaphosa's  leadership.

There is another side to Ramaphosa that cannot be ignored, and which militates against giving him the keys to the kingdom.  

 For years Ramaphosa refused to dust off his moral compass.  His blind loyalty to the ANC collective was absolute. His silence following multiple instances of corruption and looting of state resources by ANC comrades was deafening. The fact that he did not speak out is indicative of symptoms of moral deficit disorder wrapped-up in a reservoir of political expediency and opportunism. 

In a perfect parliamentary system a ruling political party chooses its leader within a framework focusing on the long-term good of the country - this means a leader vested with statesmanship as opposed to being a political hack. As a prerequisite to statesmanship the qualities of integrity, responsibility accountability, conscience and character are essential. 

Such qualities do not, however, matter in the ANC's paradigm for replacing Zuma.  The dynamic is simply a power struggle between competing factions.  All that matters is factional self-interest between those who support Ramaphosa, and those opposing him. 

Ramaphosa, the well-connected billionaire politician does not need the trappings of the state to enrich himself. He has already acquired his riches from being a major beneficiary of gratuitous empowerment deals.  He is beholden to his party for his wealth, and until recently refused in the name of party loyalty, to distance himself from Zuma and his political chicanery.  Until he threw his hat into the  ring, he blindly supported and defended Zuma by dishing up rhetoric over reality, laced with side-stepping infuriating generalities.  His lack of political will and independence raises serious questions about his ability to govern effectively.  To add to the mix is a paradoxical tension between Ramaphosa's

intelligence and his judgment. Regrettably his intelligence does not alway equate with good judgment.  One merely has to recall his deafening silence in the wake of Nenegate by allowing political expediency to cloud his judgment.  To put it bluntly:  Ramaphosa is not his own man - he has been consumed by years of ANC relentless collectivism, supplemented by  a generous helping of self-interest and political need.  

 Ramaphosa is not the ideal choice to lead the country. But, then again nor is  Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, an imperious and incoherent politician, his chief rival.    Ramaphosa will be nominated by his faction at the next ANC elective conference, but his nomination will be nothing more than an historical footnote of a failed nomination that was.  Zuma and his cabal will see to it.  

What the country is left with is Dlamini-Zuma whose political past establishes that in her world political aspirations override the wellbeing of people.  This was evident at the AU where her performance as the AU's commission chair was far less than flattering - in fact for many it was high time say "good riddance".  According to one German media outlet she ignored crisis upon crisis from the Ebola epidemic that claimed many lives to civil wars, and the deaths of African migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.  Nearer to home, one cannot forget Dlamini- Zuma's role in the Sarafina scandal, her denialism with respect to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and promoting a quack remedy for the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

After all is said and done Jacob Zuma  will most probably succeed in Dlamini-Zuma replacing him as leader of the party, and ultimately president.  South Africa will then have a two-in-one package with Jacob Zuma as the de facto president calling the shots.